Best Writing Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“I was nearly fired from my second job, which was writing press releases for Boston's public television station.”

Writing Jobs Television Presses Release Stations Boston Press Release

“An early editor characterized my books as 'romantic comedy for intelligent adults.' I think people see them as funny but kind. I don't set out to write either funny or kind, but it's a voice they like, quirky like me... And you know, people like happy endings.”

People Thinking Knows Writing Kind Book Voice Comedy Adults Intelligent Like Me Editors Happy Endings Quirky

Author:Elinor Lipman

“Expressing political opinion can be a powerful way to establish a character's voice when writing fiction.”

Way Writing Character Political Voice Powerful Fiction Opinion Writing Fiction Political Opinions

Author:Jen Lancaster

“Writing is something that I've always loved. That stems from my love of being a reader.”

Writing Reader Stem

Author:Jen Lancaster

“I had no idea how complicated and solitary it could be to write a simple book.”

Writing Book Ideas Simple Complicated No Idea Solitary

Author:Jenny Lawson

“The hardest thing to write was explaining what anxiety feels like. Every time I'd try to really write about what it feels like to have an anxiety attack, I would actually have an anxiety attack. It was good material but so incredibly uncomfortable.”

Feels Writing Trying Materials Anxiety Hardest Uncomfortable Hardest Thing Explaining Anxiety Attacks

Author:Jenny Lawson

“Writing is my therapy. In addition to my real therapy. God knows where I'd be without it. I'd probably still be at my last job, working in HR at a religious organization. I was horribly miscast.”

Knows Writing Stills Real Jobs Lasts Religious Organization Therapy God Knows

Author:Jenny Lawson

“Writing was my first occupation, begun at age 23.”

Writing Firsts Age Occupation

Author:Johanna Lindsey

“One of the most productive times in my early writing life was while I had a full-time job as a word processor in a law firm and also worked part-time at night, often working until 11:00 P.M.”

Writing Jobs Law Night Firm Productive Writing Life Part Time Full Time Jobs Processors Law Firms

Author:John Lescroart

“I would like all my friends, followers, fans and fellow travelers to know that I am fighting cancer and will therefore be taking a break from performing while getting the treatment and cure. I shall of course be continuing to write music - in my world it just has to be part of the therapy - and I fully expect to be back in good shape next year.”

“Children can't help but create: they need to put their mind on the page, they want to paint, to sculpt, to write short stories.”

Want Needs Writing Mind Children Helping Stories Pages Paint Short Story

Author:Jonah Lehrer

“I think striking the right tone for your story is, if you like, the alchemical work of writing.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Stories Tone

Author:Julia Leigh

“The point is the 'me' that you see before you is not the 'me' in my private little space, shape-shifting into the writing role, nor is it the 'me' that works with the actors. Here, at the end of the film doing interviews, I feel like I'm in disguise.”

Feels Writing Littles Ends Film Actors Space Roles Shapes Interviews Disguise Shifting

Author:Julia Leigh

“I started writing seriously when I was a teenager, around 14 years old.”

Writing Years Teenager

Author:Marie Lu

““Et Tu, Babe” was born out of my absolute certainty that a writer’s life was solitary and insular, and I was happy with that. I love reading and writing, it’s my whole life.”

Writing Whole Reading Born Absolutes Whole Life Certainty Solitary Babe Reading And Writing Love Of Reading Absolute Certainty Certainty In Life

Author:Mark Leyner

“People really want to believe that there is no fiction. I think they find it much easier to imagine that novelists are writing memoirs, writing about their lives, because it's difficult to conceive that there's a great imaginary life in which you can participate.”

People Thinking Want Writing Believe Difficult Fiction Imagine Easier Memoir Novelists Imaginary Imagine That Imaginary Life

Author:Mark Leyner

“The perfect life would be to have an amazing part every year and to spend all my free time to just write.”

Writing Years Would Be Perfect Free Time Perfect Life

Author:Melanie Laurent

“I play in a band, I write songs, I sing, you know, perform on stage.”

Knows Writing Play Song Stage Band

Author:Adam Levine

“All my songs come from me because I only seem able to write about myself and my experiences.”

Writing Seems Able Song

Author:Laura Marling

“I feel sometimes that I'm in a constant state of being lost in translation, and I guess that why I write songs.”

Feels Writing Sometimes States Song Lost Constant Translations Lost In Translation

Author:Laura Marling

“I'm a lot more observational than personal in my writing. My writing is mostly a lot of questions without answers.”

Writing Answers

Author:Laura Marling

“What really grabs me is when a reader writes to express her personal story and how a book helped her situation, or her acceptance of a situation she can't change. I read some sad cases in my snail and electronic mail. I respond to all I can, affirming that they are the true heroes of life because they are fighting through adversity and surviving.”

Writing I Can Book Stories Fighting Situation Cases Acceptance Reader Hero Adversity Mail Surviving Can't Change Affirming Snail Personal Stories True Hero Fighting Through

Author:Lurlene McDaniel

“I don't think I prefer writing for one age group above another. I am just as pleased with a story which I feel works well for very small children as I do with a story for young adults.”

Thinking Feels Writing Wells Children Stories Age Young Groups Adults Young Adult Small Child

Author:Margaret Mahy

“I had to wait for a long time before I could support myself with writing. However, being a writer is what I have most wanted to be, from the time I was a child.”

Writing Children Long Wanted Waiting Support Long Time Most Wanted

Author:Margaret Mahy

“I was able to work out all sorts of attitudes to style and event and character, all of which affected the way I came to think about my own writing. I believe that all good writers are original.”

Thinking Way Writing Believe Character Able I Believe My Own Attitude Style Events Originals Work Out Affected Good Writers

Author:Margaret Mahy

“When you are writing, of course, you have to do all that writing and correcting for yourself. When I was a librarian it was expected that I would know about a wide range of books.”

Knows Writing Book Courses Wide Expected Range Librarian Correcting

Author:Margaret Mahy

“The novels take longer to write than the picture book texts, and they do take a different sort of concentration. However, a very short, simple story that works well is just as exciting to me as any longer and more complex book.”

Writing Wells Book Different Stories Simple Novel Exciting Complexes Concentration Picture Books

Author:Margaret Mahy

“Nowadays it seems to me nobody takes trouble about anything, especially writing songs.”

Writing Seems Song Trouble Writing Songs

Author:Marian McPartland

“I want to write such things as compel the admiring acclamation of the world at large, such things as are written but once in years, things subtle but distinctly different from the books written every day.”

World Want Writing Years Book Different Written Subtle Admiring

Book:Human Days: A Mary MacLane Reader

Source: Human Days: A Mary MacLane Reader

“There's a hardening of the culture. Reality TV has lowered the standards of entertainment. You're left wondering about the legitimacy of relationships. It's probably harder to entertain the same people with a more classic form of writing, and romantic comedies are a classic genre.”

People Writing Reality Form Culture Left Wonder Comedy Tvs Standards Romantic Harder Entertainment Genre Classic Legitimacy Reality Tv

Author:Nancy Meyers

“I can't remove the autobiographical slant from the things I write. You always bring yourself into what you're writing.”

Writing I Can Remove

Author:Natalie Merchant

“I would say I'd rather dig a ditch, you know, do hard, manual labor than write lyrics.”

Knows Writing Hard Labor Manuals Manual Labor

Author:Natalie Merchant

“All I write about is what's happened to me and to people I know, and the better I know them, the more likely they are to be written about.”

People Knows Writing Literature Written Happened

Author:Norman MacCaig

“I never think about poetry except when I'm writing it. I mean my poetry.”

Thinking Writing Mean Literature

Author:Norman MacCaig

“So I find the fascination, the love, the incredible skill and everything to do with acting, writing plays, and doing them, just darling. Lovely. I love actors.”

Writing Play Actors Acting Skills Incredibles Lovely Fascination Darling

Author:Patrick Macnee

“Well, you just know, as a writer, I didn't really write one of the five best screenplays of the year. There were lots of brilliant screenplays; I was just one of the lucky ones who got nominated.”

Knows Writing Years Wells Five Lucky Brilliant Just One Screenplays

Author:Patrick Marber

“We absolutely need to reform the Congressional budget-writing process.”

Needs Writing Process Reform Budgets Writing Process

Author:Patrick McHenry

“My favorite music to sing would be my own songs, my original songs, just because I know them, you know I write the tunes, so my favorite songs are the newest ones that I write. That's what I like to sing the most, because it means something, it's real, it comes from me.”

Knows Writing Mean Real Would Be Song My Own Originals My Favorite Tunes Favorite Song Favorite Music

Author:Paul McDonald

“I hardly ever write when I'm just feeling great.”

Writing Feelings Feeling Great

Author:Raine Maida

“Attempting to write vocal oriented songs to me felt like going through the motions and if you are going to go through the motions you might as well just do any gig that caused you to do repetitive motions like banging a hammer or serving fries.”

Ifs Writing Wells Might Song Felt Serving Hammers Attempting Vocal Gigs Repetitive Fries Banging

Author:Ronnie Montrose

“I'm not really one of those people who goes and writes some big back story and agonizes over characters. I think you kind of can get it. For me personally, it's just kind of more instinctive. But I don't have kind of an acting background. I fell into it accidentally.”

People Thinking Writing Kind Character Stories Bigs Acting Backgrounds

Author:Rose McGowan

“I'm not a writer. I think I can write short stories and poetry, but film writing, brilliant film writing, is a talent - you can't just do it like that.”

Thinking Writing I Can Stories Film Talent Brilliant Short Story Just Do It Film Writing

Author:Samantha Morton

“I am a scientist and I am a physician. So I write papers.”

Writing Paper Scientist Physicians Papers

Author:Siddhartha Mukherjee

“Writing anything as an expert is really poisonous to the writing process, because you lose the quality of discovery.”

Writing Process Loses Quality Discovery Experts Writing Process Poisonous

Author:Siddhartha Mukherjee

“There's a phrase in Shakespeare: he refers to it as the 'hidden imposthume', and this idea of a hidden swelling is seminal to cancer. But even in more contemporary writing it's called 'the big C'.”

Writing Ideas Bigs Cancer Contemporary Phrases Swelling

Author:Siddhartha Mukherjee

“We're not on a desperate mission to write chart compatible stuff.”

Writing Stuff Missions Desperate Compatible

Author:Stephen Malkmus

“I always write things that entertain me, and one of the things that I find really enjoyable to explore is the idea of love. I like looking at my own life and my friends and family and how love changes who you are. It fascinates me.”

Writing Ideas My Own My Friends Who You Are Family And Friends Enjoyable My Own Life

Author:Stephenie Meyer

“I grew up in a community where it was not the exception to be a good girl. It was sort of expected. And all of my friends were good girls too, and my boyfriends were good boys. Everybody was pretty nice. And that affects how I write my characters. There aren't very many bad guys in my novels.”

Writing Character Guy Girl Community Boys Novel Nice Grew Grew Up My Friends Expected Exception Bad Guys My Boyfriend Good Girl Good Boy

Author:Stephenie Meyer

“Poetry is its own medium; it's very different than writing prose. Poetry can talk in an imagistic sense; it has particular ways of catching an environment.”

Way Writing Different Environment Particular Mediums Prose Poetry Is Catching Prose Poetry

Author:Story Musgrave

“They told me that they are starting a classic label, and wanted me to be the first artist. So I signed, and am producing myself, and writing my own music, but I'm their first artist on their classic label. And I have creative control.”

Writing Firsts Wanted Artist My Own Creative Starting Labels Classic

Author:Teena Marie

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